Even if one cannot understand everything in this article, those who can grasp the essentials of the counter-intuitive but very simple Acceptance & Commitment Therapy techniques – and then practice them when the voices “show up” – seems as likely to get some relief as I have (again and again) when the noise kicks (always when I am stressed and my autonomic nervous system is way out of balance towards sympathetic branch fight / flight / freeze / freak / fry).
AND… one can learn these techniques from inexpensive workbooks like…
BTW, the 10 StEPs (see below), which is a “quick relief” method built on ACT – as well as MBSR, DBT, MBBT, SEPT and SMPT – also works really well for detaching from the emotional effects of the voices, though one usually has to have some first-hand experience with one or two of those other therapies to be able to use the 10 StEPs something like “100%” effectively.
I am working on this workbook and I’m loving the ACT metaphors, especially the bus one. I might get the “Big Book of ACT Metaphors” which’ll cost me a big dollar.
I use the bus metaphor constantly with those I work with. I have gone way down into it (with and without help from ACT “co-inventor” Steven Hayes, who is surprisingly accessible)… separating the “kids” on one side of the aisle down the middle from the other; handcuffing the more obstreperous ones (who cause trouble for those who want to “get better”) to the rows of seats toward the back; imagining food fights among the “boys on the bus;” using the “driver” as a symbol of effective, observant, reality-based leadership and ego strength; and much, much more.
